1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a casing to be used for shaping, packing, and producing a processed food product typified by a processed meat product, a processed fish product, a processed dairy product, or the like. In particular, the present invention relates to a netted food casing obtained by integrating a nonwoven fabric and a net (mesh), which include a thermoplastic synthetic fiber, by thermal lamination.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, as a food casing to be used for a processed meat product such as ham, sausage, roast beef, roast pork, salami, bacon, or raw meat, a fibrous casing or the like has mainly been used. The fibrous casing is produced by, for example, shaping hemp paper or a nonwoven fabric into a tubular bag and impregnating the product with viscose. Further, a food casing including a thermoplastic synthetic fiber has been proposed (Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open No. Hei 02-78084).
Raw material meat (chunk of meat or kneaded meat) for ham, sausage, or the like is stuffed into a food casing, subjected to a smoking step or the like, and formed into a processed meat product such as ham or sausage. The smoking step is performed by smoking the raw material meat to improve preservation stability and to decoratively color, flavor, and season the raw material meat.
Meanwhile, in order to shape or decorate raw material meat for ham, sausage, or the like, the raw material meat is directly tied with a string or a net (mesh), or a food casing stuffed with the raw material meat is tied with a string or a net, and the resultant product is subjected to the smoking step or the like to produce a processed meat product.
The direct tying of the raw material meat with a string or a net or the tying of a food casing stuffed with the raw material meat with a string or a net increases the time for shaping the raw material meat and deteriorates productivity.
Further, when the raw material meat is directly tied with a string or a net, the string or the net gets into the raw material meat. As a result, it is difficult to separate the string or the net from the processed meat product such as ham or sausage before eating, and the string or the net remains in the processed meat product such as ham or sausage, which generates a number of complaints.
For that reason, at the present day, in order to facilitate separation of the string or the net, a food casing is tied with the string or the net so that the string or the net can easily be separated together with the casing.
As the netted food casing, Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3104485 discloses a netted food casing obtained by sewing a net into a bag-like casing. In Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3104485, the bag-like casing is formed so as to have a bag shape by rolling original paper for casing into a tubular shape, bonding the overlapped ends of the tubular material, interfolding an opening at one end of the tubular material, and sewing the interfolded part.
The net is shaped into a closed-end tubular material, and is allowed to cover the outside of the bag-like casing. The net is sewn with a thread at the both ends of the bag-like casing.
Processed meat products such as ham, sausage, roast beef, and roast pork are sold on a large scale as gifts sent at the end of the year. For that reason, there is an urgent need to rationalize production of the products, and a netted casting for food corresponding to rationalization of production of the processed meat products is required.
However, the netted food casing of Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3104485 is formed by sewing a net with a thread at both ends of the bag-like casing to integrate the net with bag-like viscose, and hence provides low productivity and expensive packing materials.
Further, the net is sewn with the thread at both ends of the bag-like casing, and there is a risk that the net may be separated from the bag-like casing when the casing is stuffed with raw material meat for ham, sausage, or the like.
Further, there is a risk that the thread for sewing the net at both ends of the bag-like casing may be loosened and mixed in the raw material meat.